Daughters
by Rayc Petite
Summary: It wasn't one of those things that you could just apologize for and it would all go away.  Things had changed... and they weren't going to fix themselves.  AU a What If situation.The Rest of chapter one is up!


**Author's Note: ****Author's Note: Hello Gilmore Girls lovers, it's me, Rayc… I haven't completely abandoned fanfiction… on the contrary, I've been working on this story for awhile… I have it all outlined, I just have to type it up. Anyway, I've recently started writing the chapters, and I thought before I type up the first five chapters, like I planned to do before I posted anything relating to this story, I would give you guys a preview and see how you guys like it. This is only the first half of the first chapter… the second half is on my other computer… and I'm not quite done with it. In fact, the first chapter, I think, is almost 8,000 words and this is only the first 2,000. **

**So here is my brief background on this story. Lorelai sent Rory away to boarding school after she "spent the night" with Dean is season three after "Rory's Dance." Rory never forgave her and their ones stellar relationship crumbled. Lorelai is currently married to Max, but their relationship is also crumbling. **

**I'm not going to classify this story as a Rogan, Lit, JavaJunkie, Troy, exc, because that takes away the era of suspense. However, I promise, Logan, Jess, Tristan, and Luke are all in this story… And they play major roles in the love department… **

**Author's Note 2!!!: Thanks for the amazing reviews, guys. Here is the rest of my first chapter.   
You guys should totally thank a lovely person/floating icon named Fluf, it's her birthday and that's the only reason why I am updating today.**

**PS: I'll mark with ----- where the chapter left off… for those of you who read the preview!**

**Official Disclaimer: I'm a hobo that live in a cardboard box under a bridge. They do not give us rights to shows… or anything. Don't worry, the revolution is coming soon. Those big-shots had better watch their backs. :) **

**Daughters**

**Pilot **

**(Mothers Be Good to Your Daughters)**

**August 15th, 2002: Almost the end of summer vacation**

She blew the fringy, brown, curtain of bangs out of her eyes in frustration. She looked up at the big scoreboard type sign that hanged above her head, the words 'Bradley International Airport' shown brightly in a dingy, orange color. This was not where she was supposed to be, this was not where she wanted to be, Hartford. She was only, roughly, thirty minutes away from her house, thirty minutes away from her hometown, and thirty minutes away from a place that hadn't been her home in nearly two years.

She had a feeling of dread penned up in her stomach, or was that just nausea? Either way the feeling was sickening and probably caused by the fact that she would be seeing someone she hadn't seen since she left Stars Hollow, her mother. She walked along the tiled floor, her heals clicking rhythmically, towards the whirring conveyer belt to retrieve her black, rolling suitcase. She stood next to a random tourist (or at least she assumed the woman was a tourist judging on her choice of hot pink fanny pack) and tapped her foot impatiently.

She wished that she hadn't chosen the standard, black roll away for her choice of luggage, because it made hunting it down a lot harder, considering that everyone had a black, roll away suitcase these days. 'What ever happened to originality?' she thought dully. She groaned as she finally spotted her suitcase going through the hidden-tunnel part of the conveyer belt again. The fanny pack woman next to her cried in excitement as she lunged for a particularly floral suitcase. She mentally cursed at the woman for her dumb luck. She crossed her arms, bitterly, and waited for her suitcase to come around again. She tried to look on the Brightside; she was putting off seeing her mother for a couple more minutes. She smiled wickedly at that thought. Anything that caused her mother the slightest bit of inconvenience was fine with her.

She spotted her bag coming out of the hidden-tunnel again and made a B-line to get to it, almost jumping on it to stop it from moving. She hoisted the large bag off the black belt and set it down on the ground. She pressed the grey button, extracting the sturdy, black handle used to pull the suitcase behind her. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for what was ahead of her; she still wasn't ready, but she expected that her mother would start to look for her if she took too long. Rory imagined a string of airport officers lying beaten on the floor by her angry mother. She shook the thoughts out of her head and passed through the gates to the waiting area of the airport.

She slowed her pace as she saw a raven haired woman with bright blue eyes (matching her own) standing in front of her, beaming madly, with her arms outstretched widely, as if the past two years hadn't happened. Rory plastered on a fake smile and slowly walked over to her mother.

"Rory!" the woman cried in a very fake cheer. Rory stopped herself from gagging as her mother engulfed her in an awkward, tension-filled hug. Rory rolled her eyes in her mother's arms and quickly wiggled out.

"Lorelai," Rory said, dryly. Rory watched Lorelai's face in glee as she saw her smile falter, only for a second, before she took Rory's suitcase and started walking. Rory followed, hoping that she could somehow get out of this.

"So," Lorelai said after a few minutes of walking in silence. Rory turned her attention to Lorelai, reluctantly, "how was school, er, Stowe?" Rory grimaced at her mother's attempt at small talk. Her boarding school, Stowe Academy, had been lonely at first, but soon enough she had made friends, friends who were still at Stowe while she returned to Chilton Academy per her mother's request.

"Fine," Rory answered, shortly. Lorelai nodded.

"Did you make any friends?" Rory groaned in frustration, causing Lorelai to falter in her walking pace.

"Mom, we've exhausted the subject in emails already." Rory saw Lorelai frown in the corner of her eye. Rory had sent very few emails over the past two years, but that was because she had been mad at her… and rightfully so; her mother had absolutely no faith in her and didn't trust her. Their once envied relationship was now in tatters and Rory suspected that that was the reason her mother brought her back this year: not because she thought she had learned her lesson, not because her mother finally trusted her again, but because she missed their mother-daughter relationship that was more like a friendship. 'She'll just have to get over that,' Rory thought to herself, chewing on the inside of her cheek. Rory had decided that their mother-daughter relationship, as wonderful as it was, was over when Lorelai gave up on her and sent her away. It was the day that Rory saw a little bit of Emily in her mother, and it disgusted her how her Mom could live with such a double standard.

Rory wished her Mom would realized that just uprooting her and dragging her back to Connecticut was not going to fix everything, on the contrary, it was probably making things worst. It probably hadn't even occurred to Lorelai that Rory had actually been happy at her boarding school in rural Buckinghamshire. No, in Lorelai's selfish decision to relocate her back to the place that Rory resisted even thinking about, she probably hadn't even imagined the repercussions that her actions would cause. Rory guessed that it was partly her fault that she was moving back. If she had just indulged in her Mom's wishes and returned her emails/calls, Lorelai might be satisfied.

"Oh," Lorelai said with a frown, disappointment obvious in her tone. Rory looked around and noticed that they were outside in the airport parking lot. Rory spotted her Mom's lame, worn, tan Jeep. She had thought that by marrying Mr. Medina or Max, her mother would have gotten a new car, or because she now owned her very own Inn. Those words sounded foreign to her, her mother married and running her own business. The whole thing felt strange and Rory finally realized how much she had missed in the past two years. She knew about things that had gone on around Stars Hollow (not that she had asked.) Her mother had been sure to fill her in on every little detail via emails. Most of which weren't even replied to and when they were, they were always short and lacked vital information. She had learned that Sookie, her Mom's business partner and chef, had gotten married to her produce man, Jackson. She had learned that Luke had a nephew that was now living with him; the boy's name escaped her. She had also learned that Lane, her former best friend, was drumming in a rock band. This had been the only thing that Rory truly cared about in all of her mother's emails. She hadn't meant to cut Lane out of her life like he had her mother, but it just happened. They kept in touch for a couple of months, but soon the pressure of school work and social obligation (something that had never been an issue before) had gotten the best of her free time and her friend's petty, virtual letters had ceased to occur. She guessed that by cutting her mother out of her life, she had managed to cut everything reminding her of her mother out as well; this included, Stars Hollow, everyone in Stars Hollow, and Lane.

Lorelai tossed Rory's heavy bag into the bag of the pathetic Jeep and she walked over to the driver's side of the car. Rory got into the passenger's side, quietly, and waited for the idle chitchat to proceed.

"So, I guess we should get you an American License, huh?" Lorelai asked, keeping her eyes on the road. Rory was also looking at the road, through the side window; watching the yellow lines fly past her.

"I guess so." Lorelai smiled slightly and Rory wished she would just put on the radio to eliminate the need for talking.

"You know," it looked like the radio was not going to happen, "Max is really excited for you to come back as well." Rory nodded. "He hasn't seen you since before we officially started dating." Rory sighed, recognizing this comment as a jab on Rory not going to her mother's wedding last summer.

"Yeah sorry, I was busy with summer school," Rory mumbled. Lorelai nodded, acting like she understood. She hadn't understood when Rory informed her that she would not be returning for the wedding. That had been an ugly phone call. Lorelai had threatened then and there to bring her back to Stars Hollow once and for all. It had been an empty threat, they both knew it, but it didn't stop Rory from calling her bluff. Lorelai had hung up the phone in frustration. It was then that Rory knew Lorelai realized that she had lost her daughter.

Rory started recognizing where she was as they reached the outskirts of the small town where she had grown up. Finally, they reached a white and blue sign that said 'Welcome to Stars Hollow' in wispy, gold lettering. Rory felt as if she were traveling back in time as they drove past all of the places she hadn't seen in such a long time: Luke's Diner, Miss Patty's Dance Studio, Doosie's Grocery Store, and finally past the freshly painted town Gazebo that stood proudly in the center of the humble town. Dozens of people stopped and stared as Lorelai's car drove by with her in it, people like Kirk, Miss Patty, Babette, Andrew, and the Town Troubadour waved and cat-called as the car passed them at fifteen miles per hour (the town's official speed limit.) Rory waved back, feebly, and realized that the town that had seemed so magical while growing up, seemingly filled with fairy tales and adventure, was better in the memories. It was then, sadly, that she realized that just like the fairy tales she was told as a child, she had outgrown Stars Hollow. Rory looked over at her mother, a person who was still living in the dream world; feeling protected by its quirky members and quant structures. Rory wondered if her Mom would ever grow up and realize the town for what it was, a mirage that couldn't really hide you from the real world, no matter how hard her mother fought to stay out of it.

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They drove out of the main area of the town towards the residential area. They passed the house where Babette and Morey lived, the lawn still full of gnome statues and other lawn ornaments, and approached the house that had a rusty, worn mail box that used to say 'GILMORE' in faint black letters, but now said 'GILMORE-Medina.' The Medina part was darker, because it was obviously a newer addition. As they drove up the driveway, Rory realized the names on the mailbox were the only things that had changed about 'The Crap Shack:' the paint on the outside was still peeling off in the same places, the wood on the porch slightly sticking up in random spots, the porch swing still hung lamely threatening to fall. Rory even wanted to bet that the step on the porch steps still creaked when you climbed them. Lorelai took the key out of the ignition and smiled brightly at her.

"We're home!" she sang. Rory bit her lip; she didn't want to tell her that this place, the place her mother had worked for, didn't feel like home anymore. Stowe Academy was her home and just like before, Lorelai had ripped her away from her home to send her to some place full of strangers. Rory unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car. Her mother grabbed her suitcase out of the back and walked towards the house. Rory walked through the crunchy, gravel walk way and smiled to herself as the step squeaked when Lorelai stepped on it. 'At least things around here stay consistent,' she thought as she walked through the threshold.

That theory flew out the window as soon as she entered the foyer. All the pictures that had been hanging up since Rory was a kid were gone, replaced by simpler pictures that were more sophisticated. The colors of the walls were completely different and the once bare hardwood floor, covered with a tapestry rug that looked picked out while antiquing. She peeked into the living room: the lumpy old couch that she and her mother had picked out together was gone, replaced with a sleek, dark brown, leather one. The pornographic monkey lamp was missing replaced by an old globe. Many other memorable pieces of furniture were gone, replaced by fancier things, this was obvious the influence of Max's taste. Rory noticed that a few things of Lorelai's were still there: pictures, the drapes, the coffee table, moved into different spots. Rory heard Lorelai rummaging around the kitchen and she was shocked to see that it looked like someone actually cooked in here. Her jaw hung open at the sight and Lorelai must have noticed her confusion.

"It's a wonderful thing when you marry a man who can cook," Lorelai announced, obviously proud in her choice of husband. Rory simply nodded. "So I was thinking," Lorelai said, fishing a Poptart out of the pantry, "we could go to the town's 'End of Summer Madness Festival,'" Lorelai said, glee crossing over her thirty-something features. Rory noticed in the corner of her Mother's eyes crow's feet and she wondered how long they had been there. "Does that sound okay?" Rory shrugged.

"I guess," she said, apathetically. Lorelai took a bite out of her blueberry Poptart and chewed silently as if digesting the conversation along with her pastry. Rory couldn't think of a thing she wanted to do less. As soon as she set foot in the town square, she knew she would get tones of hugs and questions. "I'll go get dressed," Rory added, turning to walk towards her bedroom. Lorelai stopped her.

"Oh, and I got you out of Friday Night Dinner tonight." Rory waved her off and shook her head.

"No that's okay, I'll go." Lorelai's face fell, but again, she rebuilt her demolished smile. "I haven't seen Grandma and Grandpa in a long time." She disappeared down the hall before Lorelai could say something else. Rory grabbed her suitcase and walked into her room, quickly, shutting the door behind her. She leaned against the closed door and shut her eyes, trying to regroup from the exhausting day she had had already. She opened her eyes and felt old looking at her childhood room. The walls were bare, the marks of her old Harvard nostalgia dark against the sun faded walls around it. The same girly comforter still rested on her small, twin sized bed with a cheap, oak bed frame. She dragged her suitcase over to her bed and placed it on top of it. She unzipped the bag and pulled out a navy blue cocktail dress that she would wear to Friday Night Dinner that night. She would wear it to the festival, because she wouldn't have time to change before she had to leave, she was sure of that.

She got dressed and searched around the bag for her pair of navy blue ballet flats to go with her outfit. She walked out of her blank room and went into the kitchen to meet her Mom, who was also dressed for dinner that night. Obviously, Lorelai had the same premonition that she did. Lorelai slung her purse over her right shoulder and walked towards Rory.

"So, I told Sookie and Jackson that we'd swing by their place to meet up with them before the festival, is that okay?" Rory nodded, not really paying attention to what Lorelai had to say. They walked out the door and headed towards the small duplex that Rory knew as Sookie's house, only now, it was Sookie and Jackson's house. That concept was hard for her to grasp, she hadn't gotten to go to Sookie's wedding either, she used the summer school excuse again. Rory barely knew Jackson, he had only been their produce guy for a few months when she had left, but from the impression she got from him, he seemed like an okay guy, however, she couldn't have picked the man out of a police lineup if her life depended on it. The guy seemed like an abnormally peppy version of Luke. The time in which it took to get to Sookie's surprised her, she remembered it taking a lot longer when she was younger. Lorelai walked up to the porch and walked through the door without even knocking. Rory scowled at her Mother's lack of respect for people's privacy and she silently cheered for the fact that she had a lock on her door; a lock that she planned to use often.

"Sookie!" a man in a grungy green, beanie cap cried as they entered the house. Rory looked around and furrowed her brow at the décor in Sookie's house. The room was filled with horrific taxidermy, animals; hanging on the walls and lying on the floor. Rory hoped this wasn't the influence of Jackson, because it really, really wasn't Sookie. "I liked the way the apartment was!" Jackson cried, waving his arms around madly. Apparently, the new decorations were not the work of Jackson. Sookie tried to calm him down, but stopped when she spotted Rory and Lorelai at the door. She smiled brightly and ran towards Rory, engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh, how we missed you!" Sookie gushed, swinging Rory around. Rory struggled in her embrace, wishing that she would put her down so she could know sensation of breathing again.

"I missed you too," Rory gasped. Lorelai struggled not to laugh and Rory sent her, what she hoped, was a withering glare. Lorelai tapped Sookie on the shoulder and Sookie got the hint and dropped her.

"Sorry," Sookie muttered, bashfully. Rory waved her off.

"No, it's okay; sometimes it's fun to defy gravity." Sookie giggled, longer than necessary.

"I forgot how funny you were, just like your Mom," Sookie said, nudging Lorelai suggestively. Rory suppressed an eye roll. Jackson came up beside Sookie and slung his arm around her shoulders.

"We're not done with this conversation," Jackson said to Sookie through clenched teeth. He turned to Rory and plastered on a smile that envied Lorelai's previous attempts. "So Rory, will you be joining us for the festival?" Rory nodded.

"That's the plan."

"Then let's go!" Jackson bolted out the door heading for the town square. Rory, Lorelai, and Sookie followed behind, visually less enthusiastic than the ecstatic produce man.

Rory felt like gashing her eyes out; no, not her eyes, her ears!

The same, upbeat song had been playing for the past four hours as Rory walked around the festival. The annoying, cheesy chorus was ringing in her ears and she hoped that a massacre on the band from New York would occur soon, so the song would cease to play. 'Those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer."  
The tune, Rory noticed, was increasingly becoming flat and she felt the need to find an escape from it all. Her mother, Sookie, and Jackson were at least ten feet ahead of her, it would be very easy for her to slip away, unnoticed. The town's people had already done their fare share of gushing over Rory's new appearance, school, and impromptu return (along with some cheek pinching from Babette and Miss Patty.) She had done her obligation of acting as the town sweet heart (if she still was that anymore) and now she wanted to get away from it all.  
The festivals, which had seemed like such a big deal, even when she was there for the beginning of tenth grade, now seemed completely dull and not worth the effort that was put into them. Rory had seen Taylor buzzing around in his electric wheelchair (something about a banana peel) and she felt sorry for him for the first time in her life. Taylor devoted his life to shoving old town traditions back into modern life, trying to make everything like it used to be, and rarely focused on modernizing. He longed for the simpler times of his youth, which no longer existed. Rory understood why he did all of this, but still everything seemed to loose it's charm and it seemed to lackluster.  
Rory looked at the three people ahead of her again. Sookie and Jackson were holding hands, pointing out things in a loving way, as Lorelai stood beside them like a third wheel. It was then that Rory knew something was missing. Where was Max? She considered catching up to Lorelai to ask her that very question, when something, or someone, caught her eye.  
Leaning against a nearby tree, some fifteen feet away, was noone other than Lane Kim, her former best friend. Rory stopped dead in her tracks and couldn't help but feel better seeing her old friend again. The look she received was less than welcoming. Lane's eyes turned to slits and she frowned. She stomped off towards Luke's Diner and entered in a huff. Rory's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach. She knew she hadn't been kind to Lane, but she didn't think that Lane hated her. That was a stupid thing to assume. She had tried to make Lorelai hate her by doing the same thing to her as she did to Lane: ignore her.  
"Rory c'mon!" Lorelai called, beaming. Rory groaned and caught up with her Mother, who was waiting for her. She had to think of the right time to bring up the Max question. 

---

He grabbed the soapy washcloth and wiped it across the linoleum counter top covered in random stains of ketchup, crumbs, and relish. His hands, pruned because of this job, working at his Uncle's diner. He felt that if he continued to work here, after he graduated from high school, it would only be a matter of time before he started wearing flannel shirt and backwards baseball caps out of choice. He shuttered at the thought and quickly dropped the washcloth in the bucket of water underneath the counter top.  
He leaned against the surface and surveyed his surroundings. Kirk sat at a lone table, mumbling something about "Hey There!" He didn't even want to know what that was about. He started to ask himself if he should be worried about a person like Kirk, a person who obviously needed so much help but was neglected by anybody who passed by, he decided against it. He looked over at Babette and Miss Patty, gossiping about Lorelai Gilmore's long lost daughter, who apparently had returned today. He found it funny how the two old women always had something to talk about, especially when it was never about themselves. But he guessed that they kind of considered the whole town a part of themselves, that made him feel sad.  
A few other customers littered the grungy diner, but it was a very slow day. All because of that festival outside that he was glad to be away from all of it. He had walked over to the diner, from Andrew's Bookstore, when it had just been starting and the music alone was enough to drive him nuts. That was without all the crazy town folk trying to get him to participate in their psychotic festivities. He wouldn't be joining them, although, watching them from a distance behind Plexiglas was not exactly boring. Stars Hollow was so different from New York, no matter what his flaky mother said about the energy. The people here, were certified nut-jobs just waiting around for big guys with butterfly nets to come and take them away. He looked forward to that day and hoped that they didn't mistake him for one of them. He hoped that he wasn't becoming one of them, that to another New Yorker he didn't seem to fit in with the eccentric people of the sleepy little town.  
Oh yeah, he was defiantly getting out of here after graduation. However, to graduate meant actually going to school; he loathed Stars Hollow High. Everyone there had a false sense of superiority, thinking that they were so special, excelling where they lived. Little did they know that there were millions of other teenagers out there, just like them, even better. One of the people there that he really couldn't stand was a guy named Dean Forrester, the guy was so easy to get riled up, it was almost too easy. He and his girlfriend, Lindsey, were the school's "power couple." In other words, they stood for everything that annoyed him to the bone. The only person, besides his Uncle Luke, that he could actually stand in the whole town was-  
"Argh, how dare she!" a small, Korean, teenaged girl, with black rimmed glasses cried as she threw open the door of the diner, causing the little bell at the top to jingle madly. She was returning from delivering an order to a customer and didn't seem very happy with the outcome. Jess stood up straight and smirked at his best friend, knowing what was irking her.  
"What, did someone forget to tip again, Lane?" Jess asked, sarcasm dripping from his words. He was goading her, he knew that, but it was fun. What could he say?  
"No," Lane spat, retrieving her "Luke's Diner" apron from the wooden coat rack. She put it on, hastily, and fumbled with the strings in the back. She had a look on her face that looked as if she had just eaten an entire lemon; it was the same face she put on every time he brought up the subject. "She's here, and she had the nerve to wave at me, can you believe that? I haven't heard from her in over a year and she just waves at me!" Jess gasped sarcastically, covering his mouth with his hand in fake astonishment. Lane glared at him, obviously not enjoying his torment. She cried in frustration at her inability to tie the back of her apron. Jess laughed and motioned for her to turn around with his hand. Lane obeyed, reluctantly, and Jess began tying it for her. "She just, ugh!"   
"Makes it impossible for you to finish a coherent sentence?" Jess offered as a sufficient ending. Lane nodded as Jess finished with the strings.

"_Exactly_," she stressed, turning around to face him. Jess felt the corners of his mouth turn up involuntarily. Lane pouted. "It's not funny!" Jess cleared his throat.

"You're right, this irrational hatred of a girl you haven't spoken to in almost two years isn't funny at all." Lane rolled her eyes and went to retrieve an order that Caesar, the plump, Italian, part time cook had put up. Jess followed her to the table and she grumpily tossed the plates at the unsuspecting customers, whose eyes grew wide in shock as most of their soup spilled onto the table in front of them. Jess quickly retrieved the soupy bucket from behind the counter and wiped up the creamy residue.

"Sorry," he mumbled to the perplexed couple, "We'll get you another bowel of soup in a minute." The couple nodded and Jess went back over to the counter that Lane was standing behind, looking dejected. "Just because you're in a bad mood, doesn't mean you can attack unsuspecting people with soup." Lane stomped her foot and crossed her arms across her chest.

"You just don't get how much Rory bugs me, Jess!" Lane cried as Luke, Jess' flannel-clad Uncle and owner of the diner, came down the stairs coming from his apartment upstairs. He was buttoning the cuffs of his shirt and was smiling (or what seemed like a smile for grumpy Luke.)

"Rory's here?" Luke asked, hopefully. Lane threw her hands up, already sick of hearing her name.

"This is the story of my life!" Luke winced, walking behind the counter next to Lane.

"Sorry, I forgot how Rory makes Lane feel," Luke said, returning to his previous grumpy state.

"Stop saying her name!" Lane cried, covering her ears. Luke rolled his eyes.

"You used to be best friends." Lane narrowed her eyes and shook her finger in Luke's face.

"Well those days are no more: best friends do not go away to boarding school and completely forget about you, best friends do not ignore your emails, and best friends do not come back after two years and wave at you like nothing ever happened!" she rambled, stomping away into the kitchen. Luke sighed.

"Don't you think you're being a little bit dramatic?" Lane reappeared and shook her head.

"I am not being dramatic; this is a completely rational reaction to the situation at hand!" Luke crossed his arms and glared at her.

"You have another delivery," he said, changing the subject. Lane shook her head, vigorously.

"I'm not going back out there; not with _her_ out there, breathing the same air!" Luke turned to Jess, begging for help. Jess felt his pain, Lane had been complaining about Rory's return since they found out at the beginning of the summer. But he decided to humor Lane, whatever this Rory person did to Lane must have really hurt her, and whoever hurt Lane was not okay with him in his book.

"I'll do the delivery," Jess offered. Luke sighed in relief.

"Thank you," Caesar dinged the small hand bell, signaling an order was ready. Jess turned and saw a large, brown, paper bag with the Luke's Diner insignia on it. Luke handed him the bag and Jess headed towards the door.

"Yeah, thank you Jess," Lane added, still hostile about the whole thing. "See Luke, Jess understands the situation."

"I'm still not banning her from the diner," Luke barked, turning away to wait on a new batch of customers that had just sat down. Jess didn't hear Lane's retort to that, because he was already out the door. The little bell jingled behind him and he walked down the steps leading to the street. He groaned as he realized the same obnoxious song was still playing from before, but he decided it was better than dealing with a hysterical Lane. He decided to take his time delivering the order to avoid getting back to Luke's early. He looked at the address that was pinned to the bag and groaned: _Dean Forrester. _He could already imagine the grief and aggravation Dean was going to give him for delivering his meal. He knew this because every time Dean bagged his groceries, Jess teased him severely. He was on the other side of the spectrum and he didn't like it.

Jess walked through the town square, observing his surroundings, trying to make Dean's food cold when he spotted Lorelai walking around with Sookie, Jackson, and a smaller brunette girl. He paused, out of curiosity, to look at the girl that was causing Lane to freak out so much. His breath caught in his throat as he got a better look at her. She was pale, not the kind of pale that makes you look unhealthy, but like it was made of porcelain, like she could shatter from merely touching her. Her bangs were trendy looking; they were long and hung down below her eyebrows. Her eye were her most captivating thing about her, they were like her mother's (purely blue,) but unlike her mother's eyes that almost looked sad, hers had a sense of innocence. She looked bored; she was frowning and seemed barely aware of her surroundings, like this was the last place on Earth that she wanted to be right now. Jess could relate to that feeling. Feeling like Stars Hollow was too small, kid-ish almost.

She looked over in his direction and their eyes met, Jess quickly diverted his eyes to the ground to avoid her gaze. When he looked back up, she had already looked away and had moved on to look at something else. She intrigued him, and for the life of him, he didn't know why. He looked at his watch and realized that he had been walking around for almost twenty minutes. He started to run towards the Forrester house, taking a short cut, to deliver the food… and maybe a little festival cheer.

Lorelai slammed the door to her Jeep as she got out. She hunched her shoulders and frowned at the sigh before her: The Gilmore Mansion. With it's tall columns, pornographic fountains, and symmetric structure, it symbolized everything that was her childhood, unbearably perfect and restricting. She smoothed out the wrinkles on her lavender cocktail dress and took a deep breath. Throughout Rory's stay at boarding school, she and Max had continued to have Friday Night Dinners, which always ended in a fight. Lorelai hoped that tonight would be better, because of Rory's and Max's presence; he hadn't been around as much as he used to.

As Lorelai walked towards the intimidating, wooden door, she felt Rory and Max trailing behind her. She soon realized that it was up to her to ring the doorbell. She plastered on a fake smile and reached out to press the ridiculously small, brass button. Within seconds, a terrified looking maid with a tight, blonde, bun on the top of her head, one that stretched her face out, making her features look harsh. She smiled instinctively, mirroring Lorelai's strained one and ushered the group in. Lorelai followed the woman, again, feeling Rory and Max's presence behind her. They hadn't said a single word the entire thirty minute drive. Lorelai hadn't anticipated it to be this hard to talk to her own daughter, she didn't used to be like this, but every time she would strike up a conversation, Rory would shut her out, being monosyllabic. And Max was a whole other story, one that was wearing her out.

She shivered as she entered the drawing room, feeling the atmosphere turn chilly from the central air-conditioning, where Emily and Richard awaited to grill Rory about school and Max about where he had been the past few dinners. Emily smiled as she saw them enter, she put down the martini glass she had been sipping on and stood up to great them. As she got closer, Lorelai noticed that her mother's constant smiling had caused her to get severe crow's-feet over the years. She wondered if she had continued to live in society if she would have them by now. Emily stretched out her arms to engulf Rory in them, giving her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Rory, dear," Emily, cooed, "It's been so long, I love what you've done with your hair." Rory smiled, blushing slightly. Lorelai smiled feeling content that her daughter was still uncomfortable receiving compliments.

"Oh, thank you," she said, touching her hair, self-consciously.

Richard mimicked Emily's greeting, lingering on the hug longer, though.

"Rory, you have been greatly missed," he cried, his smile was genuine. He released his granddaughter and focused on the man standing next to her.

"Max, were have you been?" Richard asked, noticeably colder than he had been when he had been speaking to Rory. Max flinched, Richard never had liked him.

"I'm terribly sorry, Richard, I've been busy and I've had a little cold." Lorelai snorted, louder than she intended to. Max turned his attention to her and gave her a cold look. Lorelai avoided his eyes by adverting her own to the floor.

"Hi, Dad," she said in a small voice. Richard nodded; he only did smile for Rory.

"Can I get you two something to drink?" Lorelai nodded.

"The usual, please." Richard nodded as well.

"Martini and Scotch it is. Rory, club soda, correct?" Rory nodded.

"That's fine, Grandpa." Richard smiled as he poured her drink first.

"Well don't just stand there in the foray, come sit down," Emily ordered. The group obeyed, taking their usual seats around the coffee table. Richard came a minute later, with drinks in tow and the Grandparents began grilling their Granddaughter about her school. It was idle chitchat, asking question like, 'How were your classes?", "How were your teachers?", "Did you make many friends?" Eventually, they moved their questionnaire session into the dinning room, because dinner was ready.

Lorelai sat down in her expensive chair, the smooth material sticking to her thighs. She continued to listen to the generic questions as she picked at something fancy on her plate. She tuned out the rest of the questions until the middle of desert when Richard actually asked a question that peaked her interest.

"So, what colleges are you thinking about looking at?" Rory smiled, and wiped her mouth with her cloth napkin so it was chocolate-mousse-free before she uttered her response.

"Well," she said, looking over to Lorelai quickly, before returning her attention to her Grandfather.

"Harvard," Lorelai responded for her. Rory furrowed her brow at her, obviously annoyed that her mother had actually decided to speak tonight.

"Yes, Harvard, but I was also thinking about the possibility of _Yale_." Richard coughed out an excited laugh and Emily smiled. Rory looked over to her, as if challenging her to contradict her statement. Lorelai took the bait, despite her better judgment.

"Oh, since when?" she asked, keeping her tone innocent. Rory narrowed her eyes.

"For awhile, I just think I need to be realistic, I can't just assume I'm going to get into Harvard without a back up," Rory said, adding a condescending smirk, "I need to have a backup, plus, I might decide that I like Yale better. You never know. I'm also going to look at Princeton." She directed the last part towards Emily and Richard, meaning that Lorelai's contribution to the conversation was over. Lorelai slouched and took a spoonful of chocolate mousse, shoving it into her mouth. The chocolate melted into her mouth, and you could tell it was expensive, not the boxed kind.

She was just glad that her opinion mattered.

Lorelai got out of her jeep and slammed the door to the passenger's side when they got back from the dinner. She put a hand over her stomach. She felt queasy, because Max had driven home. She hadn't been in sound state to drive. Rory quickly got out of the back and ran into the house, slamming the door behind her. Lorelai wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Are you coming?" Max asked, unsure. Lorelai snapped her attention over to him. She had forgotten he was there.

"Oh, um, I was thinking of heading to Luke's," she admitted, "It's been a long day." Max looked like he was going to say something, but he must have thought against it, because he turned without uttering a single word and walked into the house after Rory. Lorelai sighed and began the dark and murky walk to Luke's Diner on the Town's Square. She shoved her hands into her coat pocket and kept her eyes on her feet. Dinner had been _worse_ than usual instead of better. Everyone had completely ignored all the huge elephants in the room, going by true Gilmore fashion, and had exhausted all the frivolous conversations. Everything seemed completely… dull. No fights occurred, which is what Lorelai wanted initially wanted, but soon she realized that no fights were bad. It meant tension and the tension at tonight's dinner was unbearable. Moreover, Max was no help at all. Actually, she had barely noticed his presence at dinner at all. He had just sat there, silently, eating his food…. annoying her to no ends.

She looked up as her feet met a short set of stairs and she realized that she had reached Luke's Diner. She walked up to the door with a 'closed' sign hanging, crooked, in the window. A man with a flannel shirt and backwards baseball hat was wiping the counter clean in partial darkness, the only light coming from a dim, desk lamp, sitting behind the counter. Lorelai rapped on the door, trying to get the man's attention. He looked up and shook his head, realizing who it was. He mouthed the word 'no.' Lorelai pouted and folded her hands in front of her face, begging him for entrance. She had had a hard day; she just needed a cup of coffee. Luke rolled his eyes and walked over towards the door. He pointed to the crooked 'closed' sign. Lorelai increased her pout and then mouthed the word, 'please?' Luke sighed, giving into her antics and opened the door. Lorelai smiled at her small victory. Every thing else seemed to be going wrong today.

"You're an angel," she told Luke, walking over to the counter, sitting down on one of the bar stools. Luke walked behind the counter and shook his head.

"Make it quick," he ordered. Lorelai laughed.

"You've got wings, baby."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, coffee?"

"Please." Luke poured her some scalding hot, liquid into an orange cup and placed it in front of her. She picked in up and inhaled the scent, deeply, before taking a long sip. "Amazing."

"You're addicted."

"Only to your coffee," she said, buttering the diner owner up. Luke smiled, slightly, and continued to clean up the counter around his late-night customer. They fell into a comfortable silence, Lorelai noticed that they never really needed words; silence was enough for them. However, Lorelai usually liked to break that silence.

"Rory came back today." Luke cleared his throat and put down his rag.

"I know, Lane can't stop talking about it." Lorelai winced, slightly, knowing how Lane felt about her only daughter…

"She's different," Loreali said, simply.

"How so?"

"I don't know, she's… distant." She took another sip of her coffee, waiting for Luke's reply.

"Well, she has been gone for a long time." Luke resumed his ministrations with his countertop.

"Sometimes," Lorelai paused, "sometimes I think it was a mistake sending her away in the first place." She looked up at Luke, making eye contact.

"I agree."

"What?" Lorelai asked, she wasn't expecting him to say that. After the Dean situation, Luke had been all for sending Rory away, some place where she would be safe. Now, it seemed like he was contradicting himself.

"I think that sending her away was a mistake. It only ended up destroying your relationship, yours and Rory's. I've watched you these past few years, Lorelai, you've been miserable without her and I'm sure she has been miserable too." Loreali sighed and looked down at her coffee. She saw her reflection in the liquid and saw that she was frowning, she hadn't even noticed. She was been doing that a lot lately.

"I thought that bringing her back would make things better. I thought it would fix things," she admitted in a small voice. Luke leaned on his elbows so he was level with her. She looked up at him, her eyes glassy, he was only inches away from her face, she could smell the scent of tea on his breath, and she could practically feel his prickly face on her own. She felt intoxicated.

"It's only been one day, give it time. It will get better," he promised in a whisper. Lorelai held her breath.

"Promise?" she asked in a hushed tone. Luke opened his mouth to answer, when the bell at the top of the door jingled. Luke straightened up and she could no longer smell or feel him. The coldness of the diner returned to her as she swiveled around in her chair. She saw Max standing in the doorway.

"I- I came to walk you home," he told her. Lorelai turned back to Luke and took her wallet out of her jacket pocket. Luke held up his hand.

"It's on the house." Lorelai smiled slightly and walked towards the door, towards her husband.

"Sorry, to interrupt," he said, stiffly, when they walked onto the sidewalk.

"There was nothing to interrupt," Lorelai spat back, harsher than she intended. Max sighed.

"Our Couple's Therapist said that communication is key, Lorelai," he said, ignoring Lorelai's harsh words, "What aren't you telling me?"

Shoved her hands in her pockets and ignored him. Max groaned.

"Lorelai, c'mon!" Lorelai stamped her foot.

"Fine, so talk."

"I think bringing Rory back was a mistake."

"I don't want to talk about it." She sped up, leaving Max in her wake.

She just wanted to get home and get to bed.

She watched silently, making sure her breath was even so she wouldn't wake her. Her daughter slept in her childhood bed, in her childhood room, in her childhood house, but she wasn't a child anymore. She looked like a sleeping angel. This was always the time when Lorelai enjoyed Rory the most.

She let her tears roll down her face when she realized how sad that was.

Author's Note: THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH CONSTRUCTIVE REVEIWS!!!!!

PS: Wish Fluf a happy Birthday!

:P


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